Students from Grant Elementary School’s Great Lake Gang had the privilege of planting two maple trees at the entrance to the Maywood Environmental Park as part of the City of Sheboygan’s Arbor Day Celebration on April 28, 2017. Students worked alongside the City of Sheboygan Forestry Crew and learned how to properly plant a tree. Students also enjoyed recreational tree climbing with ropes in the 100 year old maple trees at Maywood.

The Great Lake Gang (GLG) is a new club offered at Grant Elementary School this year for students in 3rd – 5th grade. Sarah DeZwarte, Director of Education at Camp Y-Koda, helped the group get started by successfully writing a grant from the Gannett Foundation so the Great Lake Gang could purchase needed equipment, such as microscopes, macroscopes, backpacks, and water testing equipment. Under the leadership of Grant teachers Julie Brandt-Casper, Mandy Metropolis, Amy Schulze, Nicole Hornickel, and Kendra Kelling, Program Director at Camp Y-Koda, the group’s vision is to create an environmental club at Grant Elementary that will focus on educating students about Lake Michigan and its beaches. The advisors hope to expose students to this great natural resource and to provide opportunities for them learn how to care for it. This spring GLG has focused on storm drain runoff awareness and stenciled storm drains with the educational message “DUMP NO WASTE, DRAINS TO LAKE.”

Recently, artwork created by two Great Lake Gang students – Skyler Deibert and Davis Yakich – was selected to be featured on a storm drain billboard sponsored by the Sheboygan County Planning and Conservation Department. The billboard should be on display on Calumet Drive near Dairy Queen in May or June. The same artwork will also be featured on t-shirts for the Annual Sheboygan River Clean Up. The shirts are sold for a donation as part of that event to raise funds for the effort.